Harbinger of Death
by Silver Souhait
Summary: Fate ponders on Shinichi's "curse."


A theory on why Shinichi attracts so many dead bodies. This takes place during chapter 655 (the Revolving Sushi Case), where Megure mentions that Conan, not Kogoro, seems to be jinxed with cases.

Disclaimer: I don't own Detective Conan; I am simply a fan with time on my hands. Or not. I made time, anyway.

* * *

Fate watched the scene below with amusement. So they were finally catching on, were they? That the one whom they should be calling a shinigami, a harbinger of death, was not Mouri Kogoro (no matter how appropriate his family name sounded) but Kudo Shinichi – the one with the appearance of a child and an intelligence that far, far surpassed most adults…

Yet, they were still wrong. As ominous as his presence might seem to those who knew of his tendency to be surrounded by dead bodies, it wasn't his fault, really. Not directly – the idea of him being a serial murderer was ridiculous enough to be amusing – nor indirectly, through some curse that caused horrible luck. Quite the contrary, in fact: Shinichi was one of Fate's favorite humans. It was such a rarity to find one as deeply virtuous and essentially _good_ as he was.

No, Fate would never curse him; she would cause him great adversity, but that was another matter. Well, it was no different from what she did to all of her other favorites. It was a basic principle: "He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness." It wasn't a bad thing for her to want her favorites to be the happiest they could possibly be, was it? Of course not.

That was why she had first worked her power, after all. She had influenced the Black Organization members by implanting the suggestion that they hold their deal at Tropical Land on the same date as Ran and Shinichi's outing. Gin, of course, would take with him the untested APTX 4869. She controlled the two teenagers' path as they wandered aimlessly after the gruesome roller coaster case; right up until Shinichi noticed the oh-so-subtle Vodka glancing around shiftily. From there, she let the events take their course, feeling satisfied. The very worst of the Organization would be the one to create their greatest enemy. Kudo Shinichi, as Edogawa Conan, would destroy them more thoroughly than any curse Fate could possibly cast on them. A silver bullet, indeed.

Case after case followed his shrinking until some supernatural force was suspected to be taking a part, although the intention was misinterpreted. Although, Fate mused, perhaps Shinichi himself already knew why so many mysteries lay everywhere he turned. That would explain why he never seemed to be bothered by the excessive amount of corpses that happened to be produced wherever he was.

Fate rarely had a hand in the crimes people committed around him. She never made people act against their nature; she only influenced their more seemingly minor decisions. Almost everyone who did anything around him would have done so anyway, with or without him; Fate only made sure that Shinichi was there to witness the crimes, to solve the mysteries, to make sure the perpetrators were put to justice. If he didn't, who would? The police were smart, but they didn't have Shinichi's jaw-dropping abilities to observe every detail and deduct exactly what had occurred in no time flat. They couldn't consistently predict what the criminals were thinking and produce the plans necessary to capture them like a fly in a web.

Fate could not have asked for a greater gift in such times. Shinichi saw to it that most of the wrongdoers he encountered received their karmic retribution. _And soon_, Fate silently promised, _I'll see to it that you receive your own. You shall not be shrouded in death forever._

* * *

The quote is from The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas. The translation of "harbinger of death" for shinigami is from Fullmoon wo Sagashite - I think it's the most appropriate translation in this case. "Mouri" sounds like the word for death in several Romance languages.

Constructive criticism is appreciated. I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
